Dortmund – Bayer Leverkusen : Preview & Prediction
Five-time Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund begin their latest attempt to dethrone rivals Bayern Munich, but without star striker Erling Haaland, who signed for Manchester City in the summer. They used the money from his sale to sign Karim Adeyemi and Sébastien Haller (who will be out for several months due to tumour surgery) — Adeyemi even scored in the 3-0 win over 1860 Munich in the DFB Pokal. However, they also strengthened defensively by signing Niklas Süle and Nico Schlotterbeck.
Having not drawn a home league game since February 2021 (G19, P5), another result of any other kind against Bayer Leverkusen seems likely, particularly as there has been no draw in any of the last nine games between them anywhere (G6, P3). Both meetings last season produced seven goals (G1, P1) and with Dortmund coach Edin Terzić promising to try to “excite our fans in every game”, they could go on.
Although Leverkusen finished behind Dortmund in third place last season, they made a poor start to the 2022/23 season, squandering several chances before losing their cup clash 4-3 to newly promoted third division side Elversberg. That followed a quiet summer in which they only brought in striker Adam Hložek from Sparta Prague, although they are unbeaten in each of their last three opening league games (G1, E2).
The last two were played away from home, and they will have happy memories of a 5-2 win here in February, so another away fixture could be just what is needed to get their league season off to a good start. It’s worth noting then that only Bayern bettered Leverkusen’s away league record last season (G9, E5, P3).
Players to watch: Adeyemi (DOR) has scored his last four official goals before the 40th minute, and although Patrik Schick (LEV) scored a goal against Dortmund last season just before half-time, three of his last four official goals were scored from the 50th min onwards.
Weekend stat: There has been an average of 5.33 goals per game in the last six meetings between these two sides at home to Dortmund.
Dortmund – Bayer Leverkusen : Betting Tips
Dortmund – Win Odds: 2.25
